dafd
Years ago
Some Absurd Portland 'Jail' blazers stories
http://thebiglead.com/?p=5319#more-5319
Here's my favorite story, though. Blazers back-up centers Ha Seung Jin and Nedzad Sinanovic were locked in the Blazers practice facility together for the summer, playing against each other because they needed the work. Ha, who is 7-foot-3, had come back from South Korea out of shape, then was hampered by tendinitis in his knee, and so he's getting schooled by the 7-foot-4 Sinanovic, from Bosnia.
The two were tussling and tangling on the court. It's getting pretty heated, and they're yapping and cussing at each other, most of which neither can understand because of the language differences. And as the players usually do at the end of a workout, the two players were shooting free throws together in silence. Sinanovic went first, then it was Ha's turn.
Peaceful enough.
That is, until Sinanovic made his final free throw, then retrieved the basketball and held it. I mean, it was like watching kids bicker and fight. Ha walked over and snatched the ball back. Then, Sinanovic said something unkind and two men ended up on the ground in a pile of swinging elbows and fists.
The fight was broken up by Blazers trainers and team managers, who are all about two feet shorter than the two players. Ha, who took a good punch in the face from Ned, was screaming, "I'll sue! I'll sue!"
The two were escorted to different areas of the practice facility to cool off. Normally the story would end here. Except Ha's neutral corner happened to be the team weight room. He picks up one of those long wooden poles that players use to stretch. Ha just comes running out of the weight room swinging the pole and screaming expletives in Korean. He really went after Sinanovic, who blocked one swing with his forearm but took another shot in the ribs before someone ripped the pole (think: closet dowel) from Ha's hands and threw it across the courts.
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Jason Quick, The Oregonian beat reporter who covers the team, has seen far more than me. He deserves some kind of honorary beat-reporter medal for enduring what was the worst locker room in all of professional sports. There's wide speculation among some Blazers employees that Sebastian Telfair was not accidentally carrying that gun on the plane in Boston that day he was busted for a concealed weapon, but that he was carrying the gun all the time because Telfair might have feared the entourage of a couple of teammates who didn't like him. Maybe he had reason. Just before he was traded to the Knicks, someone on the gang enforcement team at Portland Police Department told me to pick up the MTV Cribs episode that featured Zach Randolph because the police had a copy, and noticed some disturbing details about the unsavory people who hung around Randolph.
Nevermind&
Here's three random ones, off the top of my head&
Whenever the Blazers sign a player to a 10-day contract the equipment manager provides the player with a free set of team-issue luggage. Sort of a welcome gift. Nothing incredibly fancy, but it's way better than the stuff I have. So Omar Cook is signed a couple of years ago, and the luggage is placed in front of his locker. Cook was flying in from out of town, so he's not there yet. Ruben Patterson, the team's registered sex offender, sees the luggage, knows Cook isn't around yet, and Patterson basically just decides he's going to abscond the luggage. He just rips the name tags off and takes it. Nobody says a word, either. It's not anything violent, but it demonstrates the lack of decency and respect that permeated.
Another time, in the visiting locker room in Dallas, I had Rasheed Wallace threaten to punch me after a playoff-game loss. Deadline was approaching, I'm the only writer in the locker room and I'm asking Rasheed questions, and he whips around, and tells me to get out of his space or he's going to punch me out. At that point, his teammates are all looking to see how I react, and in no way am I going to back down. I'm looking at Rasheed, and thinking if he takes a swing I'm going to try and stuff him into the locker behind him if only because journalists everywhere need me to man up in that situation. Either that, or I'm going to get knocked out and blow my deadline. So I tell him I'm not moving. I just stand there, holding my notepad and recorder, and we're staring at each other. He eventually storms past me to the shower, and while he's gone Zach Randolph, a rookie then, leans in to me and says, "When 'sheed comes back, make sure you don't have your back to him. He'll sucker punch you." The great irony is that a month later Randolph sucker-punched Ruben Patterson during a practice breaking his eye socket. Someone was holding Patterson's arms when Randolph threw the haymaker. There was a period of a few days after that incident where Randolph hid out at Dale Davis' house because he feared that Patterson was going to try and shoot him.
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Patterson has been involved in a number of off-the-court issues during his basketball career. Patterson would have to register himself as a sex offender to establish legal residency in many U.S. states, due to pleading guilty in 2001 to attempted rape of his child's nanny in September 2000.[4] It was reported that he forced the nanny to perform a sex act on him.[4][5] In February 2001, Patterson was convicted of misdemeanor assault for attacking a man who scratched his car outside a Cleveland, Ohio night club. Patterson was arrested in 2002 for felony domestic abuse charges on his wife. His wife later dropped the charges and they divorced.
He was accused of failing to register as a sex offender on May 15, 2007 after moving into a new house in Cincinnati and a bench warrant was issued.[6] His agent, former NFL player Tim McGee, said Patterson's failure to register was "an oversight" after Patterson was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine on June 8. Also on January 3rd 2008 he was waived by the Los Angeles Clippers.
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This is a guy who could have been one of the all-time great players if he'd have worked harder, been accountable to himself and wanted it more. He has wicked athleticism, and could have played positions 1-4, and could have been an amazing defender, too. I saw him dunk on Kevin Garnett three seasons ago at Minnesota. Darius scored 48 in that game. It's one of the only times I've ever seen Garnett look ordinary on basketball court. Darius could do that to anyone on a given possession. Trouble is, he'll make a sucker of you the second you believe in him. Paul Allen had a real blindspot for Darius, and gave him $48 million when no other NBA team was bidding against him. Allen has made some dumb business moves, but that one might top them all. Darius is a bright guy, and he can be really funny, and engaging, but in the end his lack of love for professional basketball was his downfall. He doesn't love basketball. He loves the NBA lifestyle and who wouldn't? The lifestyle is the only reason he tried to come back from his microfracture surgery. The Blazers have done a good job keeping Miles away from the young talent. In five years, just a stab, but I'll guess Darius probably be hanging out in a strip club with a dancer named Hennessey, complaining to her that the Blazers never gave him a bobble-head doll night.
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